TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday slammed growing criticism of his leadership from the United States, a key ally. In the midst of a devastating war with Hamassaid calls for new elections were “totally inappropriate”.
Recently, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a senior Jewish official in the country and a strong supporter of Israel, called on Israel: hold new elections“We have lost our way,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said.President Joe Biden express support For Schumer's “Good Speech” and earlier works. Prime Minister Netanyahu accused of hurting Israel The number of civilian deaths in Gaza is enormous.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel would never have called for new elections in the United States after the Sept. 11 attacks, and slammed Schumer's comments as inappropriate.
“We are not a banana republic,” he said. “It is up to the people of Israel to decide when to hold elections and who to elect, and it cannot be imposed on us.”
Asked by CNN if he intended to hold new elections after the war ends, Prime Minister Netanyahu said: “I think that's for the Israeli people to decide.”
The United States, which has provided major military and diplomatic support to Israel, has also expressed concern about Israel. planned Israeli attack The city of Rafah in southern Gaza is home to approximately 1.4 million displaced Palestinians. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told Fox that the US has not yet seen Israel's plans for Rafah.
US supports new round of negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire In exchange for the return of Israeli hostages captured in the October 7 attack by Hamas.
The Israeli delegation taking part in these talks was expected to depart for Qatar pending Sunday night's meeting of the Security and War Cabinets, which will set the course for negotiations.
Despite the talks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made clear he has no plans to withdraw from the fighting, which has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians, local health officials said. More than 5 months have passed since then, Hamas attack on southern Israel They killed 1,200 people and left another 250 as hostages in Gaza.
Earlier on Sunday, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that if he held an election now, he would lose badly in the polls, but Israel would be forced to stop fighting and the country would be paralyzed for six months.
Prime Minister Netanyahu also reiterated Rafah's determination to attack Hamas and said his government had approved military plans for such an operation.
“We will work in Rafah. This will take a few weeks, but it will happen,” he said.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi reiterated his warning that an Israeli ground attack in Rafah would have “serious consequences for the entire region.” Egypt also argues that pushing Palestinians into the Sinai Peninsula would jeopardize the peace treaty with Israel that has been the cornerstone of stability in the region for nearly half a century.
And German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said after his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday: “The more desperate the situation of the people in Gaza, the more questions this issue raises. “Can we justify such an exorbitant cost? Or else?” Are there other ways to achieve the goal? ”
Germany is one of Israel's closest allies in Europe and often treads cautiously when criticizing Israel, given its memory of the Holocaust.
Aron Pincus, a former Israeli consul general in New York and an outspoken critic of Prime Minister Netanyahu, said the prime minister's comments were a sign of the prime minister's efforts to find someone else to blame if Israel fails to achieve its goal of annihilating Hamas. He said it matches.
“He is deliberately aiming for a conflict with the United States so he can blame Biden,” Pincus said.
Both sides have something to gain politically from this conflict. The Biden administration is facing increasing pressure from progressive Democrats and some Arab American allies to rein in Israel's war against Hamas. Prime Minister Netanyahu, meanwhile, wants to demonstrate his nationalist base that he can withstand global pressure, even from Israel's closest allies.
But partly due to domestic pressure, thousands of people protested again against Netanyahu's government in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, demanding new elections and a deal to release the remaining hostages.
Israeli attacks have forced most of the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million people from their homes. A quarter of Gaza's population is starvingaccording to the United Nations
Airdrop by US and other countries Continues during delivery new route But aid groups argue that more ground routes and fewer Israeli restrictions on ground routes are needed if humanitarian needs are to be met in any meaningful way.
“Of course, humanitarian aid should be delivered by land. Of course, there are at least two or three other points of entry into Gaza by now,” said World Central Kitchen, which sends large quantities of food by sea. José Andrés, the chef at , told NBC.
The Gaza Health Ministry says at least 31,645 Palestinians have been killed in the war.Ministry do not differentiate Although civilians and combatants are also counted, it said: women and children It accounts for two-thirds of the deaths.
The Health Ministry announced on Sunday that the bodies of 92 people killed by Israeli shelling had been transferred to hospitals in the Gaza Strip within the past 24 hours. The hospital reportedly received 130 injured people.
At least 11 members of the Thabet family, including five children and one woman, were killed in an airstrike in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent and an Associated Press reporter. Among the dead lay the body of an infant.
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Rabbi Nessman reported from Jerusalem.
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